You and Yours Distilling unveils canned lemon vodka cocktail

You and Yours Distilling's new Meyer Lemon Vodka Soda.

Plus news about the arrival of Chowbus, UCSD restaurant openings and casting call for “Top Chef” spin-off series

Sept. 11, 2020 1 PM PT

San Diego-based You & Yours Distilling unveiled its latest canned cocktail on Sept. 1: Meyer Lemon Vodka Soda. It joins the company’s seven other canned cocktails, including Cucumber Mint Vodka Soda, which was released in July.

Made with the company’s grape-based house-distilled vodka, the new 12-ounce cocktail can be purchased on-site at You & Yours tasting room at 1495 G St., or a $15 four-pack can be ordered online at youandyoursdistillingco.square.site/canned-cocktails.

Asian food delivery service arrives

Chowbus, a food-delivery service that works exclusively with Asian restaurants, has arrived in San Diego. It offers home delivery from more than 35 Asian restaurants from National City to Poway that specialize in authentic Asian cuisine, including Sizzling Pot King in Clairemont, Shan Xi Magic Kitchen on Convoy Street and Gong Cha in Mira Mesa.

Founded in Chicago in 2016, Chowbus operates in 23 North American markets. The company says it offers more Asian food choices than other meal delivery apps. Chowbus customers can also bundle items from multiple locations in a single delivery. For details, visit chowbus.com.

‘Top Chef’ casting new spin-off series for amateur cooks

Over the years, many San Diego restaurant chefs have competed on Bravo network’s “Top Chef” competition series, but the show’s producers are now casting a spin-off series called “Top Chef: Amateurs!”

Experienced home cooks of all ethnicities must be 21 or older and a U.S. citizen to apply. The 65-question online application can be found at topchefamateurs.castingcrane.com.

UCSD opening six new restaurants

For the opening of its new North Torrey Pines Living and Learning Neighborhood, UC San Diego plans to open six quick-service restaurants to serve students in 2021.

They include Blue Bowl build-your-own superfood bowls; Copa Vida specialty coffee and tea; Fan-Fan, a Chinese and Asian fusion eatery; Plant Power vegan fast food; Showa Ramen; and Tahini, offering Middle Eastern street food.

Pam Kragen writes about restaurants for the San Diego Union-Tribune. Email her at pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com.

Pam Kragen

Pam Kragen is the arts and entertainment editor, as well as the chief theater, dining and opera critic, for the San Diego Union-Tribune. She joined the Union-Tribune staff in October 2012 after 27 years at the North County Times, where she served as the Arts & Features Editor, as well as the paper’s longtime arts writer and theater and opera critic. She is the co-founder of the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in journalism from San Diego State University and completed fellowships in theater criticism at the University of Southern California and opera-classical music criticism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. And in 2022, she was chosen as one of the fellows in the prestigious National Critics Institute, run by the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in New London, Conn.